Thermocouple guide

ABSTRACT

A flexible central support having a plurality of hollow guides spirally wrapped therearound, and individual thermocouple cables removably inserted within each guide. Spiderlike positioners are spaced along the support to extract individual guides and lead the remainder to their proper location.

O United States Patent 1151 3,637,438 Springfield Jan. 25, 1972 [54]THERMOCOUPLE GUIDE 1,124,654 1/1915 Pomeroy .46/22l I 1,309,240 7/1919Chappuis ..46/221 [72] Inventor: Redwood L. Springfield, 3827 SunValley, 3,2 3 502 3 19 5 Springfield 35 230 X Houston, 77025 2,835,7185/1958 Stiekney et al. .....136/231 [22] Filed: May 13 1965 1,365,465l/l92l Des lsles ..l36/232 [21] Appl. No.: 455,402 Primary ExaminerAllenB.Curtis Assistant Examiner-M. J. Andrews [52 us. c1 ..l36/230, 136/242581 Field ofSeai-ch ..136/230-235, 242, [57] ABSTRACT 136/201; 73/359,341; 46/22] A flexible central support having a plurality of hollowguides spirally wrapped therearound, and individual thermocouple [56]References Cited cables removably inserted within each guide. Spiderlikepositioners are spaced along the support to extract individual UNITEDSTATES PATENTS guides and lead the remainder to their proper location.474,547 5/1892 Corscaden 806,872 12/1905 Clark 10 Claims, 6 DrawingFigures TI-IERMOCOUPLE GUIDE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This inventionpertains to devices for measuring internal chamber temperatures, andspecifically to those using a plurality of spaced thermocouples toperform such measurements.

Temperature-measuring devices utilizing thermocouples find numerousapplications in modern industry, an example being refinery reactorshaving heights of 100 feet or more. Temperature measurements need betaken at various depths to assure occurrence of desired reactions. Sincesuch chambers or reactors may have great height, any measuring devicethat is to be inserted into the reactor or chamber well, willnecessarily be long, since measurements throughout the chamber aredesired. In order, then, for complete measurements to be taken, thehousing for such a reactor must provide a clearance above the reactor ofsubstantially the height of the reactor, if a rigid measuring instrumentis utilized.

Flexible supports, such as that described in my presently pending U.S.application Ser. No. 339,194, now US. Pat. No. 3,263,502, have beenproposed to basically permit the insertion of flexible thermocouplesupports (or flexible supports for other measuring devices). Such aflexible support may obviously be bent and therefore, much lessclearance is needed between the entry portion of the vessel, usuallyvertically positioned, and the nearest barrier, usually a ceiling. Itwould be possible for flexible supports such as described herein to beinserted into a well at some point other than through the well top, asfor example, upwardly inserted through an opening in the well bottom.However, it has been found that if thermocouple cables, for example, aresimply wrapped around a flexible support or core and then inserted intoa vessel well, the cables oftentimes possess small kinks received inshipment and tend to become bound within the well. Not only does thisincrease the friction between the wells inner wall and the cable, thusmaking penetration difficult, but also makes exact placement of themeasuring junctions difficult, if not impossible.

More important, when plural measurements are necessary, involving pluralmeasuring points and instruments, it oftentimes becomes desirable toremove one measuring instrument, perhaps a thermocouple cable, withoutdisturbing the remainder of the instruments.

This invention is designed to improve on my earlier described patent,overcome the kinking tendency, permit cable to more expeditiously bewrapped around a support, to permit removal and reinsertion of singlemeasuring instruments under operating conditions, and to accomplishstill further objects that will become apparent hereinafter.

Basically, this invention provides for flexible cable guides to bewrapped around a central support. Thermocouple devices are insertedwithin said cable guides, the guides positioned through a plurality ofwasher-type devices therein or spiders," which spiders circumscribe thecentral support, following which the spiders may be twisted, therebywrapping the various guides, containing thermocouple devices therein,around the central support.

The specific means of accomplishing the various objects will become moreapparent on considering the following description and drawings, inwhich:

FIG. I is a longitudinal view, partly in section, of the thermocouplesupport and assembly inserted within a vessel well;

FIG. 2 is a partially sectionalized longitudinal view of thethermocouple assembly partially inserted within the well;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the spider used to position the variousguides;

FIG. 4 is a perspective depicting a plurality of cable guides positionedby the spider;

FIG. 5 is a cross section of a portion of a cable guide and thethermocouple-containing cable contained therein; and

FIG. 6 is a vertical section of a portion of a cable guide near one endthereof.

Considering first FIGS. 1 and 2, the upper wall 10 of a chamber orvessel is partially shown. Inserted thereinto, and perhaps affixed bywelding, as at H, is a well 20 which is elosably open at its upper mouth21. Insertable within the confines of well 20 is a measuring device orthermocouple assembly generally indicated as 30. Such a device isintended to be inserted within a reactor well and provide indications oftemperature at various levels of the reactor. Of course, the well may beprovided with a removable cover such as illustrated at 22 through whichleads 23 may pass leading to conventional metering instruments (notshown), from which the temperature at various depths may be read.

Considering the measuring device 30 more specifically, a hollow tubularcentral support member 31 will be seen to form the framework for theentire device. Support member 31 is flexible, as shown in FIG. 2, sothat it may be angularly inserted within well 20. Structural materialssuch as aluminum permit such bending. Positioned periodically along thelength of central support 31 are pairs of positioning lugs 32.Intermediate opposed units of each of said pairs is a spider orpositioning means 40, specifically described hereinafter. The spider isutilized to isolate a single cable guide from a plurality, and to leadthe remainder toward their eventual destination. Wrapped in a spiralfashion around central support 31 are a plurality of thermocouple cableguides 51, see FIG. 4.

To this stage, with the exception of cable guides 51 which werenonexistant the structure presented herein is generally described by myearlier described copending application. The improvement in thisinvention includes the structure of spider or positioning device 40 andthat of thermocouple-containing guides 51.

In actual transportation of a spirally wound thermocouple assembly,there has been exhibited a tendency for kinks or knots to form in thewrapped thermocouple cable. This has resulted in difiiculty beingencountered on insertion of the as sembly into a well such as 20 inFIG. 1. Frictional binding has occurred. This may result in fraying ofcables, ineffectiveness of positioning the thermocouple junction andeven difiiculty in removing an assembly which has become stuck.

An additional difficulty encountered has been the extended time consumedin wrapping long support members with a large number of cables necessarywhen temperatures must be measured at many levels of a deep well.Conventional spiders have required substantially individual assembly andhave exhibited a tendency to cock or cant when inserted within a well.

Of great importance with respect to this invention is overcoming thedifliculty encountered when the necessity arises to remove a singlemeasuring instrument from a group, such as a number of spirally wrappedthennocouple cables. The need may arise, for example, through damage toone of the plurality of measuring instruments.

The first of the above problems has been solved in the following manner,see especially FIGS. 5 and 6. In earlier applications simplethermocouple-containing cables were utilized, these being wrapped aroundthe central support member. I-Iere, however, hollow flexible guidemembers 51 are spirally wrapped around central support 31. Guides 51 areobviously of different lengths so that each guide ends adjacent thepoint at which the temperature is to be taken. One end of guide 51 maybe slightly dished, as at 52, and open at 53. This enables cable 54,which is nonintegral with guide 51, to slidably pass through and beguided by guide 51 to the exactly desirable position. Members 54 aredescribed as cables, but may include an outer jacket 55, diverseelements 56 forming the thermocouple, with junction as at 57, and afiller material 58 surrounding elements 56. Thus, considering only asingle thermocouple, guide 51 will wind around support 31, be positionedadjacent the well wall by spider 40 (see FIG. 4), serve as a containerand guide for slidably insertable and removable cable 54 and, by dishedportion 52, position said cable adjacent the vessel wall. A bimetallicstrip 33, such as described in US. Pat. No. 3,015,234, may be attachedto spider 40 and to guides 51, as at 34, to cause guide 51 to press thethermocouple junction against the inner wall of the well. Materialsreadily fabricatable into guides such as member 51 include stainlesssteel, Inconel, and other materials. These can withstand temperatures upto 2,000 F. Further, they have sufficient strength and flexibility topermit operation with diameters of 3/ 16 inch containing a rig-inchthermocouple cable.

The solution to problem 2, above, is illustrated graphically in FIGS. 3and 4. Generally circular spider 40 possesses a central aperture 41,slidably accommodated by support 31 so that the spider will be limitedonly by lugs 32. At the perimeter of member 40, there is a relativelyrectangular cutout portion 42, forming a recess. The space defined bysuch portion accommodates a single thermocouple guide and places it inthe desired location adjacent the vessel wall. Intermediate aperture 41and the periphery of the spider are perforations 43. Guides 51 passthrough these apertures en route to a lower area. Note that thepassageways defined by these perforations are separated from the spacedefined by cutout 42 by solid material or webs.

The third problem is solved by the very nature of the construction.Since cable members 54 are slidably and removably insertable withinhollow guides 51, when the entire thermocouple assembly is positioned asin FIG. 1, individual cables may be withdrawn and reinserted as desired,the guides 51, remaining in place. Obviously, each guide 51 may be keyedas by color, if desired, to indicate the relative depth or position ofits measuring position. In operation, a plurality of guides 51 may belaid out parallel to support 31, said guides being passed through one orthe other of apertures 43. There may well be a number of spiders 40spaced along the length of support 31, with guides 51 passingtherethrough. In order to accomplish the spiralling of the cables aroundsupport 31, the spiders 40 may simply be twisted or rotated relative tosupport 31. This rotary motion will move the various guides along withthe spider, since said guides are confined within apertures 43 or cutout42. As is obvious, at each spider location a single guide 51, and thethermocouple cable contained therein, departs from the spiralled masswrapped around support 31 and passes through cutout 42 thereunder torest in its temperaturemeasuring position (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 4). Also,it should be made clear that in order to achieve the continuous spiraleffect along the length of support 31, each successively lower spiderwould be rotated an additional increment. For example, the initialspider might be rotated one half turn, the next one a full turn, thenext by one and one half turns, etc. This manner of spiralling thecables greatly expedites the procedure and accurately positions theindividual thermocouple junctions.

Although a single embodiment of this invention has been depicted, it isnot intended to limit the scope of this invention thereby, but only bythe following claims in which I claim:

1. A thermocouple assembly including:

a flexible central support member;

a plurality of guide positioning members spacedly positioned along saidcentral support member;

a plurality of hollow thermocouple-cable guides spirally wound aroundsaid central support member, each guide being adapted to have athermocouple cable freely and slidably insertable therein and removabletherefrom.

2. A temperature measuring assembly including:

a central support member;

a plurality of guide positioning members spaced along the length of saidcentral support member;

a plurality of hollow guides each adapted to freely and slidably receivetherein and have removed therefrom individual temperature measuringelements, said guides being spirally wound around said central supportmember, each guide having one end positioned relative to said centralsupport by at least one of said guide positioning members, and saidguide end being internally dished to outwardly bias saidtemperature-measuring elements.

3. In a device for taking measurements at a plurality of locations, thecombination of:

a flexible central su port member a plurality of flexrb e hollow cableguides, open at at least one end, spirally wound around said centralsupport, said guides each being adapted to freely and slidably receivetherein and have removed therefrom thermocouple cables;

a plurality of positioning members rotatably and slidably engageablewith said central support, said positioning members having means thereonfor positioning said guides outwardly from said central support.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein each of said positioning members havetheir motion along the axis of said central support limited by a pair oflugs affixed to said central support, and said positioning members haveguide encompassing portions permitting said guides to be positionedrelative to said central support.

5. A device for positioning a plurality of cables relative to a vesselwall, including:

a disc, said disc having a centrally apertured portion to accommodate acentral support;

cable passageway means radially exterior of said centrally aperturedportion and interior of the perimeter of said disc; and

individual-cable positioning means at the periphery of said disc, saidpositioning means including (1) a recessed portion of said discperiphery of sufficient depth to permit a cable to pass therethrough,and (2) one wall of said recessed portion having means provided thereonfor biasing a cable toward said vessel wall.

6. The device of claim 5 wherein the cable passage means includes aplurality of perforated portions in said disc, each of said perforatedportions being separated from the other perforated portions by solidmaterial in said disc, and said recessed portion is separated from saidperforated portions and from said centrally apertured portion by solidmaterial in said disc.

7. A thermocouple assembly including:

a central support member;

a plurality of guide positioning members slidably encompassing saidcentral support, said guide positioning members having their movementlimited by lugs, which lugs are affixed to said central support; and

a plurality of hollow guides wrapped around said central support, eachof said guides having a freely and slidably insertable and removablethermocouple cable passing therethrough.

8. A thermocouple assembly including:

a flexible central support member;

a plurality of spiders slidably affixed to said central support;

a plurality of hollow flexible guides wound around said central support,each of said guides passing through an opening in at least one of saidspiders; and

a freely and slidably insertable and removable thermocouple cableinserted within each of said guides.

9. The assembly of claim 8 wherein each of said spiders includes meansthereon for yieldably forcing said guides away from said centralsupport.

10. A thermocouple assembly including:

a flexible central support member;

a plurality of guide positioning members slidably engaged with saidcentral support;

a plurality of hollow guides adjacent said central support, each guidebeing adapted to freely and slidably receive therein and permit removaltherefrom a thermocouple cable, and each guide being positioned by atleast one of said guide positioning members; and

a thermocouple cable, including a thermocouple junction at one endthereof, slidably inserted within each of said guides, said junctionbeing directed outwardly from said central support by a dished portionof said guide at one end of each of said guides.

a r a 4: s

